The Twelve Apostles Then And Now.

The Twelve ApostlesThen and NowWe compared how Christ’s church looks now compared to how it looked when it was established with the original 12 apostles. We reviewed how a new apostle was chosen when there was an opening after Judas left.We learned how apostles and prophets are called today.First the chairs were labelled with the original apostles and we added Matthias Then the chairs were labelled with who the First Presidency and Apostles where at the time of President Hinkley’s death. We walked through how a new prophet and apostles are chosen. We continued to go through the death of Elder Wirthlin until we came to the current First Presidency and Quorum of 12 Apostles.We moved the names from chair to chair to show how they are seated by seniority not age and that any of the apostles may be called in to the First Presidency, it does not depend on seniority (Example: President Uchtdorf was #11 when he was called in to the First Presidency)It was a great visual for learning and my students were very involved and attentive to this process as names were moved from chair to chair. The timing of this lesson is interesting as the Pope of The Catholic Church left yesterday and the Cardinals are preparing to meet and appoint a new Pope. Lots of comparisons to make. Next, we will match the photos with each nameI used this quote from Elder Ballard:

“You keep your eyes riveted on the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. We will not lead you astray. We cannot. Let me tell you why. Every week that I am in town, I attend a meeting of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve on the fourth floor of the Salt Lake Temple. If you could see the process by which decision and direction comes from that meeting, you would have a deep sense of confidence and comfort that the will of the Lord is being taught by the leaders of the Church. So keep your eyes riveted on the leadership of the Church. While individuals may falter, the body of general Church leadership will remain steadfast and true. If someone tells you that they have received revelation that the First Presidency and the Twelve have not received, run away from them.” -Elder M. Russell Ballard-

Here is the entire TALK from Elder Ballard. Excellent message. Long, yet worth printing out and studying.I got the idea for the chairs from HERE. Another GREAT blog to subscribe to.